1 dead, 1 injured in AZ mine

[wendy]

Ok so it's not exactly a cave, but anyway.....http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/02/arizon ... index.html

2 girls on ATV fall into Arizona mine shaft; 1 killed
Story Highlights
Thirteen-year-old girl killed

Ten-year-old girl survives with injuries

Girls were missing for almost 12 hours; trapped overnight in mine shaft

CHLORIDE, Arizona (AP) -- A 13-year-old girl who went missing while riding an all-terrain vehicle was found dead in a mine shaft, while her 10-year-old companion was rescued with serious injuries early Sunday, authorities said.

A rope team descended into the vertical shaft, where the teen was found dead, sheriff's spokeswoman Sandy Edwards said. Efforts were under way to remove her body.

Edwards did not know how the girls got into the mine or how far down they were. She also did not know the girls' relationship.

The pair went missing about 7 p.m. Saturday and never came back. Officials discovered they were in the shaft about 6:20 a.m. in Chloride, Arizona, about 17 miles north of Kingman.

The 10-year-old girl had "major injuries" and was being transported to University Medical Center in Las Vegas, Edwards said.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[Squirrel Girl]

Curiously, I stopped in Chloride in the middle of the night over Memorial Day looking for a place to camp on my way from Las Vegas to Sedona. I tried pulling over on the side of the road just outside of town, but wasn't very happy with the place. I tried sleeping in the car, but couldn't sleep, so keep on driving, and wound up in Flagstaff and had to see a massage therapist after messing up my back.

Anyway, it'll be curious to find out what happened with the girls. It's a darn shame. Chloride was kind of a ghost town with a an old mine as a tourist attraction. In the middle of the night and me half asleep, I didn't really suss it out very well, though.

[Ralph E. Powers]

That is sad to hear about the girls.

It reminds me of a mine opening in Utah where these guys drove a small jeep into it. They fell roughly 40-50 feet and were lucky to get out alive. Seems they were tooling around in the dark with other off roaders and went up this hill and then upon hitting the crest they drove right in. They were fortunate to be wearing seat-belts at the time and that someone missed them shortly thereafter to go looking for them.
The jeep is still there but I'm guessing by now the mine has been filled in by the Utah Mine Closure district. I had the opportunity to rappel down into the shaft and stand on the tailgate of the jeep ... had me thinking... 4 wheeling is fun, but ya gotta watch where ya going.

[Squirrel Girl]

I heard on the news last night that the father was in the lead on a dirt bike and the girls were following on ATVs. The mine shaft was covered in brush and they just dropped in.

Way bummer. Makes me think of the bones in that cave up next to Bighorn in Wyo. Where the animals are bounding across the countryside, and bam, they just fall in the ground. Good for the paleontologists. Bad for the critters, or in the case, the poor little girls.